


Things To Do at the End of the World

by QueerLeFay



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Apocalypse, BAMF Merlin, End of the World, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Magic Revealed, No Angst, Oblivious Merlin, Protective Arthur, Reincarnation, Slight fluff, Supportive Arthur, two sides of the same coin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2014-11-11
Packaged: 2018-02-25 00:23:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2601752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueerLeFay/pseuds/QueerLeFay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin made a list of things to do at the end of the world, which he didn't actually expect to have to do. He also didn't expect the overly-optimistic views his weird, slightly crazy professor and Morgana had, both of which thought that he and Arthur could save the world from the approaching meteorite. </p><p>But then again, Merlin should know to always expect the unexpected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Things To Do at the End of the World

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for any inaccuracies as I only did a meagre amount of research, which, sufficient to say, means little to no research. If any of this seems to be too far-fetched, well, this is a work of fiction, after all.
> 
> Enjoy ;)

It’s the end of the world.

 

He almost snorted at how cliché that sounded and how fake it seemed to be. Yet, there he was, somehow, inexplicably, had been preparing for it. He even made a list of ‘Things To Do at the End of the World”:

 

  1. **Kiss a stranger**



 

He felt like a loser, really, nineteen years and counting without ever having a first kiss – not even those curious press of lips in seventh grade. He genuinely had never ever been kissed by anyone aside from his mother. So that’s why, vain priority as it may, he wouldn’t prioritize anything else above grabbing a stranger out of the jam-packed street and snog the hell out of him or her. Preferably a _him_. If he was going to die, then he would damn well get his kiss.

 

On second thought, he was dangerously close on planning an assault on an unsuspecting stranger.

 

So, change of plan. He would kiss the first consenting stranger from the jam-packed street.

 

He stood outside of his buildings alone, pushing his hands into his pockets, puffing out white breaths. Gwaine had abandoned him after wet smooches on both his cheeks, going after Elena, planning to spend the last hours of their lives holed up in her dorm room shagging like there’s no tomorrow – which, in this case, was true. Will had also abandoned him, having one last picnic with Freya at the lake where they had they first date. Merlin _knew_ he was a closeted romantic – if the world failed to end, he would make fun the hell out of him. They tried to take him with them, of course, but he’ll be damned if he had to spend what little time he had left in this world third wheeling. He had had enough of that all through his short life, thank you very much.

 

Merlin ran a hand through his hair, huffing another white breath as he closed his puffed-out eyes. He had just called his mum and uncle, a tearful conversation he felt terrible for. He was supposed to be home this weekend, but his course work prevented him to. That, and his odd chemistry professor, Kilgharrah, who suddenly asked him to do some lab work for him. He was supposed to spend the end of the world with his family. He was supposed to look for kisses back in his hometown. But there he was, stuck in the big city, alone and abandoned by his friends, hopelessly looking for another lonesome stranger.

 

“Merlin?” a voice snapped him out of his self-pity.

 

“Hi, Morgana,” he waved weakly, “how are you?”

 

“Terrified,” she smiled ruefully, walking towards him and leaned on the wall next to him, “are you alone?”

 

“Naturally. Where are you going?”

 

“I’m meeting up with Leon, he’s taking me back to his family’s house.”

 

“That’s nice,” he mumbled.

 

“Look,” she suddenly stood in front of him, taking both his hands between hers, “something could be done. This could be avoided.”

 

Merlin snorted not unkindly, “that’s a great, very optimistic hope, Morgana, but we could practically see the meteorite already.”

 

“Just…go find Arthur,” she sighed, tighten her grip on his hands, “and try to remember before this all goes to hell, yeah?”

 

“Arthur? Isn’t he going with you?”

 

She shook her head with a small smile. “Good luck, Merlin. I love you,” she kissed his cheeks before patting his arm and went on her merry way.

 

Merlin gawked at her until she disappeared into the crowd. Kilgharrah had said pretty much the same thing yesterday, _‘this is the time, youngling! This is the time for you to embrace your destiny, a second chance for you and your other half. Save us all. Save the earth.’_ He had said after he told him that he couldn’t go back to his hometown. At the time, he thought it was a go-green thing, not save-the-earth-from-the-giant-meteorite thing.

 

Another wave of students went through him, crying and hugging and kissing. None of them was alone.

 

He could go to Arthur, perhaps, ask him to help out with his quest to find a kiss. But he could already imagine how it’d turn out. Arthur would laugh at his face, that obnoxious, snorting laugh that made Merlin wanted to punch him repeatedly. Then, he would leer at Merlin and said, _‘you haven’t had a kiss? At all? Gods, you are such a loser.’_ Then he would laugh again, thumped Merlin’s back strong enough to send him down to the floor face-first, and crowed _‘you are so sad, but unfortunately for you, I’ve already had a plan and it doesn’t include you.’_ Then he would grab one of his blonde groupies, took her into his arms, kissed her like a leech, and closed his door right in front of Merlin’s face. Merlin liked him, really, more than a mere friend or a best friend should, but Arthur could really be a jerk sometimes.

 

So, yeah, no. He would not go to Arthur if he wanted to die with his dignity intact.

 

 

Before he could continue on with another self-pitying thoughts, he suddenly saw his opportunity standing in front of the building opposite of him. The man was alone, looking as flustered and lonely as him, and he smiled weakly back when Merlin offered him a smile.

 

“Hi,” he greeted, almost sheepishly, walking towards Merlin.

 

He was brown haired, tall and lanky almost like Merlin himself, but his face was rounder and he had freckles all across his face. He was nice looking, not _Arthur-nice_ , but alas, beggars can’t choose.

 

“Hello,” Merlin greeted him back, “why are you alone?”

 

The man shrugged, “why are _you_ alone?”

 

They grinned at each other.

 

“Okay, wait. I have a question. It will sound weird and maybe a tad bit creepy cause obviously we don’t know each other, but you know, end of the world and all-” Merlin started babbling. He babbled when he was nervous and this was nerve breaking.

 

“And that is…?” the man prompted.

 

“May I kiss you?” he stammered out, pinning his gaze on his shoes and felt his neck and cheeks heating up.

 

“Oh wow…” the man sucked in a breath, “sure.”

 

Merlin’s head snapped up, looking at him hopefully, “you sure? Cause there’s this other thing…”

 

“So long as you have not any disease that can be transferred through saliva or whatnot. I plan on being blasted healthily. You know, just in case,” he joked.

 

“No. It’s just, this would be my, uh – my first kiss…”

 

Merlin was sure he was turning vermillion red by then. When he looked at the man, though, he was pleasantly surprised to find him smiling softly down at him, “I’ll make it good for you. This might be your first and last and all.”

 

Merlin beamed up at him and felt his heart beating so hard under his ribcage he was almost sure he would suddenly get a heart attack. The man put one of his hands behind Merlin’s neck and the other on his waist. They stepped closer to each other, so close Merlin could feel his breath ghosting over his skin. He almost felt overwhelmed by the anticipation as the man tilted his head slightly and leaned closer and closer and –

 

“Merlin!”

 

They sprang away from each other almost guiltily. Merlin’s heart was still beating so hard it was almost painful. The man looked disorientated from the almost-kiss, sucking in breaths while looking wildly around.

 

“Merlin! What are you doing?” Arthur appeared, grabbing one of Merlin’s arms and pulled him away from the man.

 

“Arthur,” Merlin greeted, “this is…um-”

 

“Edgar,” the man offered his hand to Merlin.

 

“Merlin,” he shook the man’s – Edgar’s – offered hand.

 

“What the hell?” Arthur bellowed, looking bewilderedly at them.

 

“So…um, nice to meet you both. I will leave you guys to yourselves. Have a good end of the world and…yeah,” Edgar stammered at Arthur’s death glare and proceeded to run away.

 

“Wait-” Merlin stretched out his free hand uselessly at his retreating form. “Great. Look at what you’ve done, you great bloody prat!” he glared accusingly up at Arthur.

 

“What the hell was that?” Arthur exclaimed, still wasn’t over his bewilderment.

 

“That, Arthur, was my failed attempt at getting a first kiss.” Merlin gritted through his teeth.

 

Arthur stopped glaring at Edgar’s non-existent presence and trained his eyes back to Merlin. He raised an eyebrow, the edge of his lips curled up into a smirk, “first kiss?”

 

Merlin froze, face turned red again, “Oh shut up. This is why I didn’t go looking for you when Morgana told me to.”

 

Arthur hummed indulgently, stepping into Merlin’s personal space.

 

“What are you doing?” Merlin squeaked, flustered by Arthur’s closeness and how embarrassing his body’s reaction to Arthur was.

 

“You should have asked me, Merlin. If you asked nicely, I might just give it to you,” his arms hovered over his waist. They were not touching, but he was close enough for Merlin to feel the warmth of Arthur’s body heat.

 

“Where are your groupies?” Merlin murmured, eyes trained to Arthur’s lips. They were nose-to-nose now.

 

“I’ve never wanted anything to do with them. They are creepy and overly obsessive. I’ve told you this a hundred times already. Keep up, Merlin.”

 

Merlin hummed, shuddering over the feel of Arthur’s gust of breath over his lips.

 

“Why _Edgar_?”

 

“Convenience. There was no one else around or anyone I could think to ask,” he shrugged.

 

“You oblivious idiot,” Arthur growled before finally, _finally_ , pulling him close until they were chest-to-chest and kissed him. If he was to be held at gunpoint, he might have confessed that he had had dreams about this moment – daydreams and fantasies of how Arthur’s kisses would be like. He would never have imagined this, though, this sweet, imploring, exploratory kiss that turned desperate by the second. Arthur kissed like every lover’s dreams – and not at all like a leech.

 

  1. **Stop panicking**



So that’s the first point done. Not exactly by its words, but better. So much better.

 

And he was not panicking, really, so the second point in his list was really a moot point. Really, honestly. He was not panicking. Not at all. Sad, perhaps, yes, but not panic. Never panic.

 

“Merlin?” Arthur still had his arms around him, looking down concernedly at Merlin.

 

“Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod, Arthur,” Merlin clamped his hands on Arthur’s arms tightly. “We are going to die, Arthur. Die!” he laughed hysterically, “we are only nineteen and we are going to die! Blasted off earth! We are going to be dusts. Oh my god we are dying,” he cried out shrilly.

 

Arthur’s eyebrows raised impressively, the corner of his mouth tugged upwards in both concern and amusement. “Breath, Merlin, breath.”

 

Merlin snapped his jaw shut, taking quick, huge gulps of air almost as if he was hyperventilating. Arthur kept a hand on Merlin’s waist and brought the other up and down his back soothingly.

 

“You don’t have to die, you know. We don’t have to die,” an ancient voice spoke up from behind Arthur, making them jumped closer to each other in tandem, tightening their hold on one another.

 

“Professor Kilgharrah!” Merlin exclaimed breathlessly from Arthur’s shoulder.

 

“Time is running out, though, so I suggest that you both compose yourself and try to remember first.” Kilgharrah said as Merlin and Arthur extracted themselves from each other sheepishly.

 

“You know, Morgana said something about remembering as well,” Arthur piped out.

 

“Ah, the witch that came back to the light,” Kilgharrah snorted, a small puff of grey air came out from his nose. Merlin tried exhaling, too, and only saw white air. Maybe it was all those cigs Kilgharrah liked to smoke.

 

“Morgana is a nightmare, I know, but I think calling her a witch is a bit…harsh, isn’t it?” Arthur said, scuffling his right shoe on the pavement.

 

Kilgharrah only rolled his eyes at him. “Anyway, as nice as it is, chatting to you both, I think you have more important work to do right now. Saving humanity and all.”

 

“How can we save the earth from a meteorite if those NASA guys or whatever haven’t been able to do that?” Merlin asked incredulously.

 

“They do not have the necessary means. Science has gone a long way, yes, but new isn’t always better. It’d do you both good to remember that,” Kilgharrah smiled a toothy smile, which, Merlin thought, was rather creepy.

 

“I don’t understand…” Arthur said.

 

“You never do, honestly,” Kilgharrah retorted, barely keeping himself from rolling his eyes again as Arthur made little indignant noises. “Just remember the most important thing. Know that while you have found each other, you haven’t _found_ each other,” he sneer-smiled. “Good luck, both of you.”

 

And with that, Kilgharrah left them.

 

“What the hell does that mean?” Arthur waved his hands around. “We have found each other but haven’t _found_ each other? What the fuck? Has he always been this mental?”

 

Merlin could only shrugged. Ever since both Morgana and Kilgharrah told them to remember something, he had been feeling a bit off – because there was _something_ he was missing. Something _they_ were missing.

 

He had stopped panicking, but the confusion had just started to grow.

 

  1. **Get pissed**



 

Arthur tugged Merlin close as soon as Kilgharrah disappeared, snaking his arms around Merlin’s waist from behind and rested his head on Merlin’s shoulder. Merlin shivered at the feel of Arthur’s breath on his neck.

 

“What now?” he asked.

 

“My list said to get pissed,” he murmured. “I know you keep a stash up in your flat.”

 

“Did you just invite yourself up to my flat?” Arthur gave a short laugh, “a bit presumptuous, isn’t it?”

 

“Not if you want to harass me in public,” Merlin pointed out just as Arthur peppered little kisses on his neck.

 

“Point taken. Well, come on then,” Arthur said as he let go of Merlin’s waist and took his hand.

 

Arthur’s flat was, thankfully, not too far away and it only took them about 8 minutes to arrive – which was good, cause Merlin couldn’t bear to hear or see another person having a break down on the streets nor could he see anymore of the bleeding red sky. He just wanted to stay indoors and drink all his wits away.

 

Merlin flopped down onto the carpet while Arthur raided his alcohol stash as soon as they arrived into the flat. They had decided not to turn on the TV because the news would be depressing anyway and they did not need any more of that. They also did not talk much, just passing the bottles to each other and touch occasionally, both lost in their own thoughts.

 

Merlin was feeling pleasantly buzzed by the time they half-finished the second bottle. He was not drunk yet, but he was definitely tipsy and wasn’t it the best feeling in the world. The world was out of focus and the thought of their impending doom had been pushed into the back of his mind – just the way he needed it to be.

 

Arthur whined when Merlin stood up from where he was perched practically on Arthur’s lap.

 

“Where are you going?” Arthur asked, tugging on Merlin’s hand.

 

“Need to piss,” Merlin answered, prying his hand out of Arthur’s grip. He released Merlin grudgingly, make a vague noise of _well, hurry then_.

 

Merlin had just finished washing his hands when he toppled down from the sudden onslaught of flashes of pictures inside of his head. His body felt like it was overheating and when he looked up to the mirror, he had rings of gold around the blue of his eyes.

 

He slid down the bathroom wall and clutched on his hair, trying to hold himself off against the piercing headache he suddenly got. He closed his eyes, expecting to see the black of nothingness; instead, he got scenes, voices and pictures of the friends he had now. Except, except they were different. The clothes they were wearing were like the costumes in that Arthurian Fair they went together to a couple months ago. He saw a story unfolded from the flashing pictures; he saw his gawky self foolishly challenging Arthur, who was, of course, a prince. He saw himself talking to a dragon. A dragon. _A talking dragon_. He saw how he had magic and how he and Arthur saved each other’s lives many times over. The longer he saw the scenes and heard the snippets of conversations, the more he believed that those were not his imagination.

 

Those were his memory.

 

Oh God. Was this what Morgana and Kilgharrah said about remembering? But how could this be? He did not have any magic. He did not…

 

A crashing sound jolted Merlin away from his memories and returned him sharply to where he was. A pot of some pitiful, thin flowers Arthur had insisted to install by the bathroom’s windowsill had somehow slipped down from its place and crashed to the floor. And _by the gods_ , were those Arthur’s toiletries that floated three inches off the ground?

 

“Merlin, I just had the strangest dr-” Arthur stopped by the door, gawping like Merlin at the scene in the bathroom.

 

“Are you seeing what I see?” he squawked, sliding down the wall next to Merlin.

 

“Arthur, Arthur, oh my god…”

 

“Why are your eyes all gold?”

 

“Did you see us in some kind of Arthurian costume just then? Did you see yourself as king and I was your manservant and there were Morgana and-”

 

“Merlin, your eyes are _gold_.”

 

“Arthur, focus!”

 

“Gold! And my stuffs are floating. Why are my stuffs floating?”

 

“ARTHUR!”

 

They shut up at the same time. Arthur gaping and Merlin toppling forward to hide his face on Arthur’s shoulder.

 

“Ithinkwejustrememberedourpastlife” Merlin mumbled.

 

“What? I can’t hear you if you speak like that,” Arthur pulled away a little and urged Merlin to look at him.

 

“I think we just remembered our past life.” Merlin repeated.

 

“No way. No. That is insane.” Arthur shook his head vehemently.

 

“Did you see yourself swinging a mace at me?”

 

“Yes…”

 

“Did you see your father announcing me as your manservant after I saved you from a dagger a witch threw at you?”

 

“Well, yes-”

 

“Did you see yourself chopping off snakes’ heads from a knight’s shield after I enchanted the snakes to show up?”

 

“Yes, but-”

 

“How then, if it isn’t memory, can we possibly have the same dream or imagination or whatever?

 

“This is crazy.” Arthur exhaled, thudding his head on the wall, staring at the ceiling. Merlin’s only response was to huff out his breath, mirroring Arthur’s posture.

 

“Is this what Kilgharrah and Morgana talked about?” Merlin started.

 

“Perhaps. But how does this help?” Arthur retorted, tilted his head slightly towards Merlin.

 

They fell silent, staring at each other, feeling lost and confused.

 

“Look, let’s just…let’s go back to the living room, it would be comfier there,” Arthur stood up and hauled Merlin up.

 

Turns out, getting pissed was only adding to the confusion.

 

_He didn’t even get pissed._

 

  1. **Talk to everyone you know and tell them what you’ve always wanted to tell them**



Arthur settled back down again on the carpet, resting his back on the sofa and pulled Merlin down to the v of his legs. They needed the close proximity, needed to know that the other was real.

 

“Arthur…” Merlin fidgeted, “perhaps we should call the others?”

 

“Yes. Yeah. Cell phone or landline?”

 

“Landline. I don’t think cell phones would work very well at these times,” Merlin answered, getting ready to get up for the phone.

 

“Wait, wait,” Arthur fastened his arms across Merlin’s stomach, preventing him from getting up. “Try the…” he gestured, wriggling his fingers, “try using your magic,” he finished.

 

Merlin opened his mouth, wanting to refuse, but really, he was curious too. So he spread out his right hand, calling out to the warmth that roped around him in the bathroom before. It was surprisingly easy to call it, considering he had only realized he had it a couple minutes ago. The phone came to them smoothly, dropping to Merlin’s hand without any fuss.

 

“Huh, that wasn’t hard,” he said, looking up at Arthur’s dumbstruck face. “Arthur?”

 

“Gods, your golden eyes,” he exhaled, tackling Merlin to his back and hovered above him for awhile before attacking Merlin’s lips with kisses. Merlin opened up to him almost instantly, stifling his moan inside Arthur’s mouth.

 

When Merlin had to pull away to gasp for air, Arthur moved his mouth to his cheeks, down to his chin, and to his neck. Merlin gripped on Arthur’s shoulders, bucking his hips slightly when Arthur sucked on the hollow of his collarbone.

 

“Arthur, Arthur,” he panted, pushing Arthur’s chest slightly, “stop.”

 

Arthur groaned, looking at him dolefully, “what?”

 

“Call. Meteorite. Fuck, I don’t know. I should at least try having sex if I was to die, but-” Merlin flailed around.

 

Arthur sniffed amusedly, drawing little circles at the nape of Merlin’s neck, “no, you’re right. We need to make some calls.” He withdrew himself from Merlin’s arms and sat down, raising one of his eyebrows when Merlin whined.

 

“Come on, Merlin, up up up!”

 

“Ugh. I should not have said anything,” he muttered darkly.

 

“If what Morgana and Kilgharrah said was real, that we could stop this, then I would give you the best sex you’ll ever have, repeatedly, _after_ we make sure we’ll live. It’ll be so good you’d be ruined for any another men. Not that you’d ever go to another man, obviously.” Arthur grinned a shit-eating grin.

 

“Prat.” Merlin returned his grin, punching his arm playfully.

 

Arthur was just about to punch in Morgana’s number when the phone rang. They looked at each other, raising their eyebrows before Arthur pressed the answer and the speakerphone buttons respectively.

 

“I see you have both _found_ each other again,” Kilgharrah’s voice boomed out of the phone.

 

“This is creepy,” Merlin muttered almost to himself.

 

“Nothing’s creepy, young warlock, simply magic,” Kilgharrah laughed at himself.

 

“Right. So, we remembered. I mean, it was all very vague and weird and still felt surreal, but we remembered. What do we do next?” Arthur intercepted the odd professor’s laugh.

 

“That is for you two to decide,” he said.

 

“That does _not_ help at all.” Merlin said exasperatedly.

 

“Ah, well. I trust you, Merlin, and you too, Arthur. You both will find a way, like you always do.”

 

“Not always…” Merlin mumbled.

 

“What?” Arthur turned his head towards Merlin, surprised by the sudden sombre tone of his voice.

 

“I could not save you – before. You died,” he said, pain lacing his voice.

 

“Merlin…”

 

“The memory isn’t just pictures and snippets of conversations, is it?” Merlin asked Kilgharrah while avoiding Arthur’s eyes.

 

“No, it’s not just those, Merlin,” Kilgharrah answered almost apologetically.

 

“The feelings are coming back. Do you feel it? I did not feel it before, it was just those scenes that felt so far away, I felt so detached from them. Now I feel like I get to relive them, I…” Merlin’s breath hitched, “I miss you so much, Arthur, you have no idea.”

 

Arthur pulled Merlin into his arms, hiding his face inside of his hair. “I know, I know, gods Merlin, I know, I miss you too.”

 

“All right you two,” Kilgharrah quipped up after several long seconds filled with not-sniffles, “now that you have _truly_ found each other, please do try and save the world. This is why the Once and Future King returned, after all. Would be such a shame if you do not succeed.”

 

“Then tell us how!” Merlin yelled at the phone, frustrated.

 

“I can’t tell you. But I can tell you this; you two are two sides of the same coin. You need each other’s strengths, as one would be inadequate without the other. That’s all I can tell you. Now please do excuse me, I have to finish my meal before it turns cold. Ta-”

 

The following silence was filed with stunned gaping.

 

Then the phone rang again.

 

“Hello boys~” Morgana’s voice was suspiciously chirpy.

 

“Morgana,” they both answered at the same time.

 

“Have you remembered everything?” she asked.

 

“You killed me!” Arthur exclaimed.

 

“Technically, no, I didn’t. It was Mordred. Anyway, Merlin killed me, so, wild justice and all,” she answered nonchalantly. “Anyhow, I called to check up on you but as you have remembered, I think we will not be wiped out after all.”

 

“Don’t be so confident, Morgana. We still don’t know what to do,” Merlin said dejectedly.

 

“Ah you just need to rely on each other, is all. Don’t take too long, though, yeah? We only got a couple hours left.”

 

“What does-”

 

“Oops, gotta go, we are having one last afternoon tea together. I am hoping this will not be the last, though, so you better get on it. Good luck, loves.”

 

Arthur put his head on his hands after the phone call, groaning at his growing headache. Their peace and silent didn’t last long as they suddenly got several more phone calls from Lance and Gwen (‘ _We know this might sound crazy, but we think Merlin might be able to save us all._ ’), Percival (‘ _I don’t really wanna die, yeah, so please do something_.’), Elyan (‘ _Guys, I know you can do this_.’), a quick and short one from Will and Freya (‘ _Good luck, wankers!_ ’), and a disturbing one from Gwaine and Elena (‘ _Don’t shag too much before saving the world, yeah? Leave the shagging to us._ ’). It seemed like Morgana had told them all to give them their support.

 

Merlin thudded his head hard onto the coffee table. This was _not_ what his list told him to do.

 

  1. **~~Prepare to die~~ Save the world**



 

They took the stairs to the rooftop of Arthur’s building. They did not think the lift was a good idea, what with the disturbance of electricity all over the city. This proved to be a wise choice when, halfway through the top, the city had a complete blackout.

 

The sky was redder, now. It looked surreally like the background of some bad sci-fi movie. They could also feel the oppressing heat, despite it being the middle of December.

 

Merlin looked up at the approaching meteorite and felt incredibly intimidated. He would have ran away and just hid if not for Arthur. Arthur stood next to him, unflinching and determined, looking as much a king as he was once.

 

“Merlin, I think only you could do this,” he said, looking up at the approaching space rock.

 

“I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I have the power to do it,” he said hysterically.

 

Arthur took Merlin’s hands, tightening his grip until he felt Merlin relaxed a bit.

 

“Yes, you have.” He said resolutely, forcing Merlin to look him in the eye, “you can do this, Merlin. I don’t want to find you only to lose you again, and I know you feel the same way.”

 

“What if this was meant to happen?”

 

“If that’s the case, then we will not be here at all, _Mer_ lin.” Arthur smiled reassuringly, squeezing Merlin’s hands for support.

 

“I love you,” Merlin said, taking a deep breath.

 

“I know.” Arthur grinned, bright twinkles in his eyes, “so think about that now. Think of your mother and your uncle and our friends.”

 

Merlin nodded, looking up at the sky and felt the golden warmth from his body stretched.

 

\---

 

Later, Merlin would never be able to explain what happened or how he had done it. All he knew was that one minute he was standing on the rooftop with Arthur, his body growing hot like he was down with a fever of the century, and the next he was cradled inside Arthur’s arms with Arthur peppering kisses on Merlin’s forehead and cheeks, whispering I-love-you-s to him. Then, he was pulled down to another unconsciousness.

 

When he woke up next, it was to the sound of a news anchor talking excitedly of ‘wonders’ and how the meteorite just suddenly ‘disappeared’ which had ‘baffled the experts’ and that they were now ‘looking for answers’. Then she droned on about how ‘religious groups had gained a sudden influx of followers’ as ‘many believed that the meteorite’s disappearance was God’s miracle’.

 

At that, Merlin heard a loud snort at his left and a muttered, “God my ass” in a very familiar voice.

 

“Arth’?”

 

“Merlin!” Arthur exclaimed brightly, appearing in Merlin's line of sight. “Thank God you are awake.”

 

“How long was I out?” Merlin asked.

 

“Only half a day. Arthur has been going crazy, though.” Morgana’s voice appeared from the door, a smile ready on her lips. “You have done good, Merlin. Thank you.”

 

“Don’t even know what I did,” Merlin muttered, blushing at her sincere thanks.

 

“You were out cold, you dolt,” Arthur chastised, pressing a small kiss to Merlin’s lips.

 

“Well excuse me, I was trying to save the world and all.”

 

“That you were.” Arthur smiled fondly, “are you okay now?”

 

Merlin sat up, not feeling any dizziness or weakness on any parts of his body.

 

“Nope, all good.”

 

Arthur grinned brightly at that, clasping his hands as he moved towards the door.

 

“Alright, Morgana, you might want to go out before you become a voyeur,” he said, making shooing gesture with his hands.

 

Morgana rolled her eyes but turned on her heels anyway, calling, “we’re celebrating this tonight, boys. I will be dragging you out if you failed to show up, clothes or no clothes!” over her shoulders.

 

Arthur turned back to Merlin as soon as the front door clicked shut with a wolfish grin.

 

“Now, Merlin, I recall I made you a promise along the line of repeated fantastic sex?”

**Author's Note:**

> *Note: the end of the world didn't get announced (or well, the meteorite couldn't be seen with naked eyes) until the morning after Merlin was prevented from going back to his hometown.
> 
> **Note: Merlin was supposed to go back to his hometown for early holidays as his Mum and Uncle are taking a cruise somewhere for Christmas and New Year.
> 
> (Thanks username Bamf1010 for the comment so that I could perhaps clear things up)
> 
> Kudos, comments, and critiques are all very much appreciated <3


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